Pea harvest is over 70 per cent complete in the province
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Manitoba farmers are nearing the finish line for pea harvest and, overall, they’re seeing good results across the province.
Dennis Lange, the provincial pulse specialist with Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development, is happy with the overall yields this year.
“I'm hearing lots of 50- and 60-bushel yields. In some regions up in the Swan River area, I'm even hearing some 70-bushel to 80-bushel yields,” he told Farms.com.
Farmers are 70 per cent complete pea harvest, the Aug. 25 crop report said. After the last week of good weather, however, Lange predicted Manitoba producers are closer to 80 per cent done. This figure is a little lower than the three-year average of about 94 per cent, he said.
“Things are moving along nicely, a little later than what we'd like to see, but it is what it is it with a later start in spring,” said Lange.
Manitoba received a lot of rainfall this year and these conditions affected yields in some areas.
“Peas tend to like drier conditions and make good use of the water they do have. … We're probably not going to average as high as what we did last year. In 2019, we saw some pretty phenomenal yields across the province. Overall, however, we're still going to have some very strong provincial yields,” he said.
Manitoba growers will cultivate more acres of peas in 2021 because of the good yields and prices, Lange predicted.
“We're sitting at just over 160,000 acres this year. Going into next year, my early projections are somewhere in that 180,000- to 200,000-acre range,” he said.
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